Travel hesitancy: Real for some, not for most

Despite international borders opening and COVID severity diminishing, one–out–of three travellers are experiencing travel hesitancy due to the war in Ukraine, the possibility of new coronavirus variants or lingering fears following two years of pandemic-related restrictions, according to the Global Rescue Spring 2022 Traveler Safety and Sentiment Survey.

Seven–out–of 10 (71%) of survey takers are somewhat concerned, concerned or much more concerned, about international travel since the beginning of the war in Ukraine. The rest (29%) report they are not concerned at all.

Traveller hesitancy is also coming from anxiety about where to go, or when to get back to travel after two years of pandemic-related travel restrictions. “In January 2021, 55% of respondents said they were more or much more concerned about travel. Today, 45% fewer travellers are expressing travel hesitancy. The recent survey reveals less than a third (30%) of travellers are experiencing re-entry to travel anxiety,” said Dan Richards, CEO of Global Rescue, the world’s leading provider of medical, security, evacuation and travel risk management services and a member of the U.S. Travel and Tourism Advisory Board at the U.S. Department of Commerce.

Conversely, the survey revealed 89% of respondents say the war in Ukraine has not changed their travel plans and the overwhelming majority (70%) of travelers are not experiencing any re-entry to travel anxiety. An even larger majority (84%) of survey takers report they are less or much less concerned about travel today compared to the beginning of the pandemic.

“Most travelers (78%) do not consider the threat of future COVID-19 variants significant enough to make them cancel or postpone international travel this year,” Richards said. “More than half of respondents (56%) already have traveled internationally since the pandemic with 35% expecting to travel abroad before the end of the year.”

COVID-19 remains a concern with international travelers, less so for the potential threat of a severe illness and more so due to the possibility of being stranded in a foreign country. According to the survey, 59% of respondents say testing positive for COVID-19 and being stranded away from home is their biggest fear about international travel. Fifteen percent of travelers say producing a negative COVID-19 test to meet U.S. re-entry requirements is their main concern.